Trump badmouths Democrats, Democrats cancel meeting

Top Democratic leaders abruptly pulled out of a planned meeting Donald Trump after he attacked them on Twitter, casting doubt on the prospects for a quick agreement to avert a government shutdown at the end of next week.

“Meeting with “Chuck [Schumer] and Nancy [Pelosi]” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!” tweeted Trump. Well, if you piss off people, not surprised they would cancel.

Later, Trump predicted that the Senate tax plan would pass, and accused Democratic leaders of being “all talk” and “no action” for failing to show up for the meeting. If he was actually smart, maybe he would of made his usually dumb comments after the meeting [has failed].

Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement that “Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon.”

Congress faces a Dec. 8 deadline to pass stopgap legislation to keep the government open and a slew of other unfinished legislation including the tax bill. GOP deficit hawks pressed for a “backstop” mechanism to limit the risk of a spiral in the deficit, even as defenders of small business pressed for more generous treatment.

Poor Americans would lose billions of dollars’ worth of federal benefits under the Senate GOP tax bill, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Just under a dozen other GOP senate members have vocalized their concerns about the proposal.

So now Trump it trying to sell the concept that the Access Hollywood tape was a fake and it wasn’t him that said those misogynistic words that reverberated around the world, even though he apologized for saying them just after the tape was revealed. What is most worrying about this bold faced liar is that his ignorant base will believe him. Why does he claim the tape is fake over a year after the video came out? Was there any news that suggest that is was fake? Nope.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump stands by his original apology for his remarks recorded by the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which he described sexually assaulting women, and that his position hasn’t changed in the days.

Trump on referred to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” at an event honoring Native American Code Talkers who served in World War II. “You were here long before any of us were here,” Trump said, standing beneath a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson. “Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”

Warren said that she had learned about her family from her parents and grandparents. Sanders’ suggestion that Warren had used it as a way to advance her career, the senator said “Never. I never used it to get ahead I never used it to get into school. I never used it to get a job.”

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to block AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. In the suit, the DOJ argues that the deal violates antitrust law because AT&T would likely “use its control of Time Warner’s popular programming as a weapon to harm competition.” Trump has vowed to block the deal while campaigning, and vociferously criticized CNN after taking office. His tweets [“…I was forced to watch @CNN, which I have not done in months, and again realized how bad, and FAKE, it is. Loser!”] could potentially now be cited by AT&T as circumstantial evidence of presidential interference.

Recently, the Trump administration would allow elephant trophies into the US. Then they put it on hold. Now Trump tweeted that his administration will announce a decision next week on allowing the import of elephant hunting trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. [No Nambia?]

The Department of Justice’s antitrust division’s Makan Delrahim took charge in September. When the deal was first announced, Delrahim had said he saw no major antitrust issues with it, but he has apparently since changed his mind. Delrahim has denied being influenced by Trump.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FCC) has voted to scale back a federal program that allows lower-income people to use a $9.25 monthly household subsidy to buy Internet or phone service. [Yes. This should help drop the government’s deficit. Not.]

Trump tweeted “I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasn’t enough.” But his endorsement didn’t help as Strange list the primary to a sexual harasser.

After a border agent died and another one was injured Trump tweeted “We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!” Of note is that they disclosed [at this time] neither were shot and it didn’t seem to be near the border [although wasn’t far]. So it may not even be related to the border. So Trump has to include his wall in his tweet.

According to a tweet [not from Trump], prototype construction for 8 models for HIS wall were to begin on Sept 26 and was to be completed in about 30 days. That is over 25 days ago.

Trump still going after the media [except Fox of course]: ” We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!”

Trump also tweeted “… I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President.” Trump signed 90 executive actions in his first 100 days. Yet most executive actions aren’t legislations. This is the equivalent of telling a kid to put his toys away. Number of major legislation passed? Zero.

Trump claim a number of times during his trip to Asia and after that former President Obama “never got to land” in Air Force One in the Philippines while he was President even though President Rodrigo Duterte didn’t like Obama. Actually he did.

The US has dropped to number 6 from number 1 for best international image. The source of America’s big drop? President Donald Trump, says Simon Anholt, a political consultant who developed the brand survey more than a decade ago. Germany was #1, followed by France, UK, Canada with Japan [tied] and then the US.

Somehow I missed this a few months back: The popular mobile word game Words With Friends has added one of the internet’s most popular typos in recent days — “covfefe.” The mysterious term that Trump tweeted has spread like wildfire on social media and the Scrabble-like multiplayer game has jumped aboard, defining the word as “the amount and quality of reporting when autocorrect fails you at 3am.”

Trump also recently appointed a lawyer who has never tried a case and who was unanimously deemed “not-qualified” by the American Bar Association to a lifetime federal district judgeship. He’s been stacking the courts with thousands of extreme right wing people in the image of Moore who will eventually make their way up to seats on the state superior courts.

After Keurig decided not to advertised on Fox News’ Sean Hannity’s show because he was too sympathetic to Moore, Keurig’s CEO apologized to employees for  appearing to take sides in a political debate. Hannity decided to accept the apology himself, and promised to replace the coffee machines of people who smashed their Keurigs. So, at the end of the day, Keurig seems to have actually boosted sales over the course of the drama.

While Trump was campaigning in late 2015, Trump encouraged boycotting Starbucks for its lack of Christmas cheer. Bah humbug? Does he ask all of his interns to smile?

The owner of the struggling Trump SoHo building in New York City reached a deal to end its contract with the Trump Organization early. Under their contract, CIM Group pays the Trump Organization licensing and management fees. In return, the Trump Organization handles the building’s day-to-day operations and, of course, lends the establishment Trump’s name.

Trump SoHo has been linked to a Russian ex-con, Felix Sater, who was involved in the original licensing deal that made the development possible. Basketball star LeBron James refused to stay at the hotel. Koi Restaurant closed down its operations at Trump SoHo in June, citing sluggish business. Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were targets of a felony-level legal probe into whether they intentionally mislead prospective buyers about how well the building’s condos were selling. In the end, no charges were filed.

The S&P 500 has soared about 21% since Trump’s election. That’s its third-best performance under a new president, behind President George H.W. Bush and President John F. Kennedy, according to CFRA Research. For the other two, it was during their terms. For trump, it’s only been 10 months.

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 59% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the presidency — the worst of any president at nine months in office since modern polling began. Of those who disapprove, 50% say they do so strongly. Only 37% of those polled approve of Trump’s performance in office. Trump is the first president since Harry Truman to see a net-negative approval at this point in his term.

A record percentage of respondents (65%) do not think that Trump is “honest and trustworthy,” up from 58% in April 2017. Prior to his inauguration, 61% thought he’d do an excellent or good job on the economy, while only 44% feel he is doing that well now. Fifty-six percent expected he’d do good work dealing with terrorism, while only 43% say he is doing so now.

A majority (58%) approve of Robert Mueller’s handling of the investigation; 28% disapprove. Meanwhile, 68% say they approve of the charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

A little less than half of respondents (49%) think Trump “committed a crime in connection with possible Russian attempts to influence the election,” but only 19% of that group think there is “solid evidence” of such a crime; 30% say their belief is based on suspicion only. 44% think it is unlikely that the President committed a crime.